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Look Back at Mob Life in 1990s New York

Andrew DiDonato's downfall was already under way before he even realized it.

But he knew without a doubt that his boss and cohorts were sizing him for a body bag.

Experience taught Andrew how to find the traps. This was a skill quickly cultivated by Mafia associates who planned on living a long life, especially associates who took to the life with DiDonato's vigor.

DiDonato made enemies out of major leaders in two crime families (in the end, three, including his own) during his years on the street.

He once shot another man point blank in the head. The man stumbled onto the ground, surviving the first shot. He would not have survived the next shot, which DiDonato crouched down to administer. He pressed the gun's muzzle to the wounded man's head and was set to squeeze the trigger -- when he noticed a witness staring at him. DiDonato dashed into the night and his target lived to see another day.

Another time Andrew and his crew were looking for somebody else on the hit list (this person had killed one of Corozzo's crew); they hunted him, tried to decipher his daily schedule, drove around in the Brooklyn night looking.... hunting... The target was affiliated with a Luchese crew that operated in proximity to Andrew's own Gambino crew. With Five Families in the city, wiseguys tended to trip over each other. Such skirmishes were the norm; they usually were fixed via a sitdown -- or not fixed and led to bodies found on the street.

Little Nicky supported his crew, wanted the Luchese member dead. To get around attempts by a Luchese capo (Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso) to save the guy in a sit down, the word was put out that whoever the Luchese gunman had killed, he had not been associated with Little Nicky and his crew.

Corozzo, who had a lot on his plate, kept his eye on how his crew handled this particular piece of work.

"If this happened to a friend of Lenny [DiMaria] and me, the guy that did it would be dead already,"Little Nicky told Andrew one night when he was annoyed the hit was taking too long.

The "mark" was finally shot down, but as fate would have it, Andrew wasn't with the crew on the night they got him.

That killing was part of a larger ongoing battle between Little Nicky's crew and the Luchese family crew. But the hit was more significant in that it sent a message to other crews and crime families: Little Nicky had a crew of killers under his auspices.

Corozzo had the mindset of a boss.

It's Always Safer to Send Flowers...

Andrew knew his time was up -- that soon or later he would be killed -- when he was asked to do something he never should have been asked to do, something that violated a basic Mafia code.

"They started asking me to bring in off-the-record people. Drug dealers, the ones I was shaking down," he told me over the phone. I was in New York, not far from his old stomping grounds. His voice reached my ear from somewhere in that vast rural and suburban swath of the U.S. known as "Middle America."

It was then that the tripwire in Andrew's mind detonated.

A lot was happening at the time, around 1996-97, but with that request, Andrew was finally able to see, for the first time probably, with complete clarity.

Little Nicky was aware of a pending pinch. In so many words, he let his crew know that while he was away, a lot of work -- he made the universal sign of the pistol with his hand, pointing outward his thumb and index finger -- a lot of work was going to need to be done. "Baby Huey" was to be whacked first. That was Nicky's pet name for John Junior Gotti.

In the larger context, the flashy dapper Senior Gotti was already away (in prison). Little Nicky, for reasons he never divulged to Andrew, wanted his crew to clean up for him, which included whacking Junior and a lot of other people he didn't then name, while he was in jail following his expected upcoming arrest.

(Little Nicky Corozzo knew he was going to be arrested but didn't realize how long he'd be in prison. In August 1997, the media crowned him the new boss of the Gambino family; within a month, Corozzo had pled guilty to racketeering charges in Florida and was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison. After Corozzo's 2004 release from prison he kept a low profile as capo due to intense law enforcement attention. In 2006, Corozzo and Jackie D'Amico supposedly were part of a panel leading the family. But then, in 2009 Corozzo, was again arrested and (after lamming it for a while) was sentenced to around 13 years in prison for ordering a gangland hit that left an innocent bystander dead. Now incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto, his projected release date is March 2, 2020.)

Andrew had been told to bring his drug dealers in and put them on record, which was strange, if not bizarre, to Andrew. "They never asked me to do this for them before," he said.

Made guys and associates are not allowed to deal drugs directly, though this "rule" -- probably more of a guideline, rule of thumb? -- is broadly interpreted. Many guys like Andrew shook down drug dealers, slews of them. Andrew reaped a fortune off dealers affiliated with him, in fact. (Others employed different methods of earning off drug dealers; the Bonanno family's Tommy "Karate" Pitera was known for killing and robbing them.)

The Gambino family asking DiDonato to put his dealers on record woke him to some startling possibilities. "I started to realize this could be them putting me to sleep and liquidating my assets. The only thing that kept me alive was that they thought they had more time. They were counting my money. You don’t want to believe this is happening to you. It woke me up and I realized..."

He told me of an expression often used in the Mafia: “It's always safer to send flowers." Meaning that it is better to kill a guy if there's a chance of him doing anything that could incriminate you.

"If a guy can hurt you with information, you make sure you take them out. I was in a life or death situation. All my life they were like brothers to me. For them it was all business. I realized I was expendable and that they were gonna hurt me. Once the boss knows that there's a jail sentence waiting for him because of you...

"Imagine if your old friends were powerful enough to kill you. The only thing I could do was beat them with the truth... That was my only weapon.

"I am not proud of how things played out. And I have regrets. But becoming a government witness is not one of them."

A street guy lives in many different worlds at once. In one world, he is a thief, a criminal developing complicated webs of revenue-generating rackets; he continues spinning new webs as old ones grow or shrink. At the same time, he has to deal with other people who also live in that world. He forms alliances with some, maybe makes enemies out of others. This represents another world of the life of a Mafia associate, a political world, where in the mob there is a whole slew of rules that go counter to the rules the ordinary citizen follows.

At one point, Andrew, trying to protect a friend, was arguing with William "Wild Bill" Cutolo over money. The arguing grew quite loud and threatened to verge into physical aggression.

How could an associate act that way toward a man like Wild Bill, a heavyweight Colombo capo who many believe was Victor "Little Vic" Orena's chief enforcer during the inter-family war of the early 1990s?

"I knew he was a dangerous man, but I was a street guy too. If you're in organized crime you have to carry yourself a certain way. You can't let anyone back you up because that’s considered to be weakness," he said.

Didn't Wild Bill know that you couldn't back down at that point?
"Yeah, but he looks at me and he sees a young kid. There is a long history of respect there. I have nothing negative to say about [any of the Cutolo family]. Very few guys who dealt with Carmine Persico came out with their life in tact."

He added: "With that other person there [meaning Wild Bill; Andrew doesn't like to say names, I noticed] it could have been handled differently. I thought about that for a long while afterward, especially after what happened to him." (Cutolo disappeared in 1999; his body was found in October 2008, in a field in East Farmingdale, New York.)

As for mobsters like John Gotti and Gaspipe Casso, Andrew said: "There are guys in the street 10-times more deadlier than John Gotti. And Gaspipe wasn't known [outside the mob world] at the time. He was considered a serious, dangerous guy."

"Hey, kid, how ya doin?"

[Andrew never had any direct dealings with Gaspipe, although Casso had, in fact, tried to get Andrew killed during a sit down with Little Nicky. At the table, Little Nicky let Gaspipe stew on and on about Andrew until finally Corozzo showed his hand, informing Casso that, he, Little Nicky himself, had been in a car talking to Andrew one night when one of Gaspipe's shooters opened up, cracking the windshield in front of Little Nicky. Corozzo told Gaspipe, what about that? "What about your guy shooting at me?" Gaspipe had no choice but to walk away from the sit down, beaten.

Apparently, despite all this, Gaspipe had never actually seen Andrew. "Only time I remember meeting him, we were in bakery on Avenue A," Andrew recalled. "He said, 'Hey, kid, how ya doin'?' 'I’m doing good, how are you?' I wonder if he knew who I was," DiDonato told me.]

I asked about Corozzo, who saved Andrew from Gaspipe Casso, but in the end, wanted him dead.

"Nicky was a really big earner," DiDonato said. "He had the mindset of the boss."

"Nicky was a natural leader... Knew how to get the best out of you. He knew how to split the ranks, divide and conquer... He was a real shrewd operator, brother."

I asked him for specifics on the supposed plot to murder Junior.

"[Nicky] could have been blowing smoke. There was never another conversation [about killing Junior]. [Nicky] wasn’t happy about some kind of business thing they had going on, I think with phone cards," Andrew said.

"Nicky was in the street 24/7; at 3 in the morning we’d be driving back from a robbery or whatever and see Nicky in another car, coming from the other way.

"He was in the trenches. Nicky lived it, he was it, he talked it, he backed it up."

You may also be interested in this story recently written for this blog.

Comments

"Andrew was a shrewd character and his experience had taught him how to find the traps."He was also a crazy son of a bitch who managed to piss off Wild Bill Cutolo, the Lucchese's and Nicky Corrozo. He's lucky to be alive after all the antics he pulled in his criminal career.

To much politics as a made guy and associate u have to do what they tell u even though u know its wrong then ur the weak link later and they wanna whack u ur choice die or go to Jail. I would take the latter then fuck them good u can't win with these jerkoffs so ur better on ur own especialy in New York were five crews are chasing the same nickle throw the associates in there u got a real cluster fuck. Like i said before kick up and let them kill each other make a nice living in sports have a real job stay off the radar. Philly

There's a lot more too it.....I don't know if he was that much different than other guys in the life back then...well, maybe he was! Rereading this story recently it got me to thinking how much the Five Families have changed. All you read about these days, in the NY press anyway, is the occasional indictment/arrest....

Its hard enough being a made guy with all the politics let alone a associate. As a associate u have to do what they tell u even though u know its wrong. Then when things go bad ur the weak link and they wanna whack u. You have three choices die ' Jail or talk. I.ll take the latter and fuck em good im not sitting in jail for somebody elses stupidity. The other part is u got five familys chasing the same nickle and throw the associates in there u got a real cluster fuck. Like i said before kick up to somebody let these jerkoffs kill each other keep a nice sports book know ur people have a real Job stay off the radar u should be fine. Philly

I read his story recently and couldn't believe that someone so out of control and disrespectful to his mob chiefs could have survived in that world. He stopped kicking up to the bosses, mounted crime's without notifying them and basically told Wild Bill Cutolo to go f*ck himself over an outstanding debt. A lot of balls but DiDonato was very much a loose cannon going by what i've read from his own mouth.

"If a guy can hurt you with information, you make sure you take them out. I was in a life or death situation. All my life they were like brothers to me. For them it was all business. I realized I was expendable and that they were gonna hurt me. Once the boss knows that there's a jail sentence waiting for him because of you..."

They were going to hurt the guy because he'd stopped kicking up, stopped letting them know what he was doing, causing unneccesary beefs and generally making a nuisance of himself. He pretty much brought it on himself, quite a few guys who flipped have my sympathy such as Al D'Arco but DiDonato was an out of control psycho who is a very lucky boy to still be alive today. He broke ALL the rules.

these tramps have a lot of energy and hate going on first episode i seen in yrs nothing changed other than these girls need to get laid because i dont think there husbands are fucking them not with all that hostility built up. And natalie is a cutie like to doggie that ass one time but she is trouble from the word go. As for Renee she.s starting to look more and more like a guy in heels just hideus.philly

One thing i see about alot of these mob wifes they like there black meat starting with the producer jenn and renee hanging with the brothas and karen sitting with uncle Ben on the steps last nite im sure Sammy loving that and Natalies little Boy is Spanish i read so she.s no stranger to the tar paper either its the khardashians minus kourtney who i think is hotter than them all including mob wifes. Philly

According to andrew "In that life, you are only as good as your last earn". He also went on to say" mob bosses think of the soilders/associates as expendable assets, they expect you to kick up the money and loyalty but it never flows downward". He said thats why many informants decide to turn because of the betrayal by the men they considered "brothers" throughout there entire lives. Ed's new bff dom cicale flipped because he was betrayed, Andrews friend Fat sal flipped because he was betrayed. Those sons of bitches put 50$ in his commisary when they thought he was gonna flip. Nicky didnt send guys to intimidate the witness in his case that got him 4 years in prison, when nicky told him he was gonna take care of it.

The same story time immemorial.... Joe Valachi said the bosses treat the soldiers like crap (probably it depends on the boss and the underling in question) and that they kill whoever they want for whatever reason. "They tell ya he's a rat, he's this, he's that..." Bada beep, bada boop....

That is very true Ed, basically its a dictatorship and the bosses word is law. Look at Vic N Gas, most of the guys they had killed weren't informants but there was plenty after their reign of terror. Same with Scarfo

Ironically, lenny dimaria went to bat for him in a sitdown with wild bill cutolo. I think wild bill wanted 15k from andrew because he thought it was andrew that fucked up on the fake phone card business and not his son billy, who in actuality made the mistake. Danny Cutaia was pissed because he thought it was andrew who killed his 2 guys when in fact it was michael yannoti on orders from little nicky. Nicky was really pissed because he wasnt getting his "deserved cut" from andrews bank robbery endeavors with a genovese crew. If andrew paid off nicky and wild bill, got a truce with danny. I would think everything would have played out differently.

whats that tell u about Gongs right there Ed he meets a guy in jail and wants to switch to NY right there a flag gos up. I can see doing bussiness with guys from up there check in with ur crew leader first. Right there tells u he.s about himself he was a out cast and to make matters worst he told others he was fucking the bosses wife. He was a Jerrrrrrrrk off worlds a better place with out him most giys didnt care for him to much to prove i was told philly

When a guy "rolls" and joins "Team America" that guy will say anything, and make up excuses as to what justified him to roll over. Truth be told, there are no excuses to roll, whether your at the top, or a low level street guy attempting make your bones, as you go into "the life" knowing all the good, the bad, and the indifferent, and anything that you do that is contrary to your blood oath is a bath in self- ruination by your own choosing. No one wants to die, or especially get killed, but you know what "the life" is all about when you enter it, that's why you entered it, and if it's success for you in the life, it's fame, fortune, fanfare, power, wine, song, dance, and great food. If your unsuccessful, it's life in prison, killed, or the Federal Witness Protection System. Andrew DiNardo chose his first path "the life" Then he chose His second path, "life of a rat" No excuses, you are what you are, a rat bastard.

I don't blame his crew for not intimidating the witness, DiDonato had shot a guy at point blank range over a personal beef. He didn't actually handle the situation that well, was rash and hot-headed. He could have threw the guy a beating but instead he shot him. Why should Corozzo and his crew risk themselves over his stupidity?

Its the Gov way of making sure they get theres so we dont pay taxes on it so they crumble or disrupt ur bussiness. Kinda like the mob when u dont pay ur street tax they help u get ur mind right. The Gov cant be as physical but they do get simular results.lol philly

Minchia! This guy looks like a Jew lawyer. I last saw Cupcakes in July. He's doing a lot better. Last I heard he was getting sentenced on his parole violation in September. I won't know much till the spring as I am in hibernation. You know, Ed, in that mug you're a dead ringer for Murder Inc. I gotta look for my old pinstripe suit.

DOMINICK CICALE, A FORMER CAPO IN THE BONANNO CRIME FAMILY, ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS
In 1999, Bronx-based Dominick Cicale finished his second years-long bit and hooked up with Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, then an up-and-coming member of the Bronx faction of the Bonanno crime family.

Initially he'd been closely affiliated with "Big Ernie" in the Genovese family.

Roy DeMeo was a ruthless killer -- not a nice guy, not a guy worthy of admiration in any way -- but in the context of Cosa Nostra he is an endlessly fascinating portrait of a mobster who had a great business sense.

Paulie Castellano didn't want to make Roy, but eventually was too greedy not to--Roy was bringing in too much cash to not notice, combined with a blood lust that enabled him to commit torture murders not common even for mobsters.
Roy had a crew of young wannabes, many of whom would eventually get their buttons, such as Gemini Twins Anthony Senter and Joey Testa, who hooked up with the Lucchese's after leaving Roy.

As reported, an FBI bug installed in the home of Gambino family soldier Angelo Ruggiero picked up an intriguing conversation between Angelo and Gene Gotti, a brother of John Gotti.

In the conversation, it is revealed Paul Castellano had put out a hit on DeMeo, but was having difficulty finding someone willing to do the job. Gene Gotti said his brother Joh…

He was considered a dangerous man. A truck hijacker and gun-runner, he was tied to two crime families (the Bonannos and Lucheses) and operated a swag-filled warehouse.

He was known for his nice gold watches and good suits. He also preferred driving around in a Mercedes.

In reality, his name was not Vincent Spinelli, and he was far from being a criminal; in fact, he was an NYPD officer working undercover. The operation lasted three years and led to 42 arrests (21 were reputed Bonanno mobsters, the rest presumably were Luchese members, plus assorted associates -- plus there was at least one grandmother who lived in a social club in The Bronx).

Peter "Peter Pasta" Pellegrino, formerly of the Babylon, New York, restaurant known as Peter’s Italian Restaurant, really is -- or was -- a gangster.

The once-promising Bonanno member who appeared after the Kitchen Nightmares episode aired, now calls himself a brokester. And the Bonanno crime family, with which he was once affiliated has disowned him.

So has the rest of New York's Cosa Nostra, according to FBI documents and Peter Pasta himself.

But before all that he appeared on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares in which he acted very much like the mobster he allegedly was trying to become around the time of filming. (See Peter's Italian Restaurant menu here.)

Back then Peter Pasta was an up-and-coming Bonanno associate who "earned" $15 grand a week bookmaking.

Anthony Colombo died on January 6 in San Diego of complications from diabetes.Anthony was Joseph Colombo's son.When Joseph Colombo learned a boss was planning to take out other New York bosses in order to take control of the Mafia's Commission, Colombo showed fealty to Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese, two of the key targets of the plotting. As a reward for his loyalty, Colombo was then named boss of one of New York's Five Families -- the Profaci family, which was rechristened the Colombo family.I've been working on a story about Anthony but meanwhile I thought it appropriate to republish a previous story we did with Anthony, a Q&A about a book he'd recently written about his father's shooting at the second Italian-American unity day.We want to thank Anthony Jr. for assisting Cosa Nostra News in getting the interview; we offer him and the Colombo family our solemn condolences.Anthony Colombo recently took the time to answer some questions for the following …

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Peter "Peter Pasta" Pellegrino, formerly of the Babylon, New York, restaurant known as Peter’s Italian Restaurant, really is -- or was -- a gangster.

The once-promising Bonanno member who appeared after the Kitchen Nightmares episode aired, now calls himself a brokester. And the Bonanno crime family, with which he was once affiliated has disowned him.

So has the rest of New York's Cosa Nostra, according to FBI documents and Peter Pasta himself.

But before all that he appeared on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares in which he acted very much like the mobster he allegedly was trying to become around the time of filming. (See Peter's Italian Restaurant menu here.)

Back then Peter Pasta was an up-and-coming Bonanno associate who "earned" $15 grand a week bookmaking.

NOTE: We will update this -- again, we post it as it includes some questionable assertions. Let us know what you find correct or not, in the comments....We also hear that a friend of ours is sick -- we want to wish him well.... Get better, guy!
Many high-profile organized crime figures reportedly hail from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Many Bensonhurst wiseguys are gone today, dead, in prison or Witness Protection -- or in New Jersey.... Unless of course, they are in another part of Brooklyn or another borough or Long Island, or somewhere else (to cover all bases).

It's one of gangland's most high-profile, enigmatic hits -- and the identity of the killer has been debated for decades.

Thomas "Tommy Two-Guns" DeSimone killed a made member of the Mafia -- and for that, among other things, he was killed in what's been described as a classic setup. The truth is, we know very little about this murder, including who pulled the trigger. (Or fired up the chainsaw depending on who you believe). DeSimone, technically, disappeared, meaning there's zero evidence as to how he was killed; in fact, it can't be said with absolute certainty that he was killed.

Still, he was killed. Guys like him don't just disappear into thin air. They'd never leave New York because everything they want -- a certain lifestyle, basically -- is in New York and cannot be duplicated anywhere else.